Found gun...what would you do?

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I would disagree with the majority here. I would have just kept it and called it a day. There is no linking me to murder cases if Noone knows you have it. I Don't remember the last time someone asked to look at my serial number, for any reason. If the extremely unlikely situation happened and I was asked where I got it, I would just say I found it(or you could say u bought it a while back private party, if your ok with telling an unrefutable white lie)

I guess I look at these things differently than most on here. It's not an expensive item. I just see it as 'life happens' . I've lost many things and whoever found those things had a great day. Good for them. On top of that it's a 'luxory' item, not a necessary for life item. If it was some grossly expensive item or something that could obviosly have sentimental value, I would do what I can to find the owner. Otherwise, to me it's just another day in the circular nature of the world. Find 20 bucks today and lose it tomorrow.

If I knew 100% how to get the item back to the owner, I would. Otherwise in my eyes, I know there's a 90% chance I would be turning this item in just so it would go to the first officer that called dibs. I think many of you on here a little unrealistic to how most places handle these things. (whether it be a police station or your local lost and found at the mall, both have humans working them)

Lastly, if I believed it really could be linked to a crime, I would let it be where it is and not even touch it. It's the unfortunate consequence of our legal system, but I don't need any scrutiny and badgering from the local pd
 
I probably would have just called the cops and told them where it was. I'm not sure I'd want to touch it at all. Perhaps I'm being naive, but I'd rather take as little risk as possible. Maybe I would have taken a few pictures as well, but I'm not sure if I would have had the presence of mind to do that either. While it is sad that I probably wouldn't get to keep it or that the owner probably won't be found, I really don't give a crap what happens to a gun I didn't pay for, and I would rather not take any chances by bringing it home with me.
 
I and a buddy had two near new 870 mag shotguns taken from my buddy's truck by a sheriffs deputy once. As my friend and I were on our way home from a days duck hunting and stopped in a local small town bar not far from my friends home for a couple of drinks because we had such good luck that day. {Keep in mind we both hadn't eaten any food all day.} I ordered a meal and ate in the bar. My friend chose not too. Being he was so close to his home. The very first stop light upon leaving that bar in the heavy rain my friend thought he had seen the left turn arrow and drove thru the light right in front of a unmarked sheriffs deputy car in the opposite lane waiting for his light to turn green. Anyhow no harm done as there wasn't any traffic that evening to speak of. But my friend was stopped ticketed for both his illegal left turn and a DUI. The sheriff's deputy called the local game warden to the scene. Because of the ducks seen in the Pick-up's box. Warden arrived and was told to count the limit of ducks we had along and do what he normally does on a stop. (good count no problems incurred) My friend was told the 2/shotguns were going to the sheriff's dept for safe keeping. And was given a receipt. They impounded his vehicle and had it towed and I had to call my wife to come get me. My friend went to jail that night as no bail was set. 2-days later I posted bail for him. Judge gave back his truck and everything personal that was impounded that night and set a court date for his trial. (my canoe, outboard motor, gun, decoys, remaining shells and duck limit were in my friends pick-up that night.) Got the truck out of the impound lot. Everything was there. Went to the sheriffs dept to pick up our shotguns. They had no idea where the two shotguns were and told my friend and I to check with the game warden involved. Went to the game warden's home and check with him. He said he never seen those two shotguns that night of the ticketing. (really? He opened their cases to check and see if they were loaded or not) Since that little town had no local police department we were stumped and at a dead end to where our shotguns were/ went. (lost shotguns? Really!! oh please.) So I hired a lawyer. The lawyer called the judge and told him what was going on. That judge immediately called all party's involved to his chambers three days later. Again the sheriff's deputy was questioned by the judge and again he claimed he had no idea where the shotguns went after he brought them to his department headquarters. Judge then called deputy's departmental head officer in charge by phone. As he too also claimed no knowledge of the missing weapons. Judge told that boss head cop He had one hour to find out!! Twelve minuets later the judge answered his phone and we were told a police chief two town (27-miles) away had our shotguns and we were given the address where to go to pick them up. Turns out the address was the towns police chief's home. The shoguns were both cased and cleaned up like they were never in a messy, muddy wet duck blind that night they were impounded. So here we have not one but three different LE agency's involved. No one will ever tell me all LE deserve the respect and admiration from those who they protect. Not after my ordeal. Thank Goodness my friend was given a receipt that night. "Otherwise what was supposedly non-existent would of stayed non-existent!!" And I highly doubt those two Remington shotguns were on route to be auctioned either.

S/S
 
1- I would of kept driving.
2- I would take cell pics and gps cords and give them to LE without ever laying a finger on the gun.

If the gun turns out to be involved in a crime YOU had possession of it. When they have no leads YOU are there.

If the gun was lost off of the roof of a car, it will most likely not find the owner through many police depts.

Not all police depts are bad but after a bad experience for trying to return lost stuff and other stories from people I know left me with a bad taste in my mouth very suspicious of most forms of police "help".
 
deepcreek said:
1- I would of kept driving.
2- I would take cell pics and gps cords and give them to LE without ever laying a finger on the gun.

If the gun turns out to be involved in a crime YOU had possession of it. When they have no leads YOU are there.

If the gun was lost off of the roof of a car, it will most likely not find the owner through many police depts.

Not all police depts are bad but after a bad experience for trying to return lost stuff and other stories from people I know left me with a bad taste in my mouth very suspicious of most forms of police "help".
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If they have no leads then they also don't know the serial number of the gun.

Do you guys think they magically find out what guns were used in a crime. A gun shows up as being part of a crime when the owner is in suspect and one of his guns is conveniently un found. The lead comes first and then the gun becomes in question. You are not the center of the investigation just because u were found with the gun. However you will be scrutinized... Which can happen just as well of you turn it in
 
Do you guys think they magically find out what guns were used in a crime. A gun shows up as being part of a crime when the owner is in suspect and one of his guns is conveniently un found. The lead comes first and then the gun becomes in question. You are not the center of the investigation just because u were found with the gun. However you will be scrutinized... Which can happen just as well of you turn it in
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Why do it want that ? So the police dept can get yet another gun to sell or own ?
That's why option 1 was "I would of kept driving."

I know many people on here live in small rural places where the PD will actually help them, many of us live in places were that is not the case.

Reminds me of a guy i knew who found a body in the desert, he reported it, hiked them out to it and became the only suspect. Which earned him hours of interrogation, threats and twisted questions. After days and dozens of hours of it he had to tell them to go to hell, which earned him surveillance and more threats.
 
I would have just kept it and called it a day. There is no linking me to murder cases if Noone knows you have it.
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So, it's OK as long as nobody finds out? I can't get behind that mentality. It's not my property just because I come across it.

Furthermore, there's a good chance that the rightful owner has reported it stolen, and that it's in the system. Getting caught with stolen property, much less a stolen gun, is not a position I'd like to be in.
 
1st guys, it's suspicious or it isn't and it's either been involved in a crime or it hasn't. There really are only two possibilities here.

You yourself do not possess the information, skills, or the legal authority to determine either, unless you in fact are LE sanctioned in the jurisdiction involved.

It's a simple choice, take it for yourself and keep it if you think someone just lost it. But you might be taking a legal risk depending on where you live, the law there, etc. But this is a simple decision, for some, they wouldn't even think twice and the decision would be a mental rubber stamp and nothing more.

But if you aren't going to keep it, and you are going to call the cops. Don't touch the damn thing, don't go near it, don't try to record the scene or get stupid GPS coordinates, don't do anything except call the cops, let them do their job, and hope that the moral high of stroking your good sense of civic duty doesn't cost you more personal grief then it was ever going to be worth.

These guys who want to give legal advice do so from their perspectives as lawyers. They see the world from their professional point of view.

These guys who are LE see it from their angle as well.

Us little people, we have our own perspective and it's really simple. Either take it and keep it or call the cops and treat that gun like it's an Indian blanket covered in the pox. Stay the heck away from it.

A new one would cost you $500-$750 at a decent price. If that is enough money that it would seriously impact your world then your decision is not as simple as mine would be. The desert in Las Vegas is not the same as the shootin hole near Shallowater, Texas, where I used to go plinkin'. And the cops from those two locals do not have the same perspective nor the same regulations.

Part of the reason lawyers give advice the way they do is because they work with the law every day. Lawyers sometimes loose sight of the simple fact that some people go their entire life and never see the inside of a courtroom, not even for jury duty.

Probably the smartest guy would simply be the one who noticed the gun and said, "I don't know who's it is, but it ain't mine.", and drove away without a thought or a care cause it wasn't his problem or job to find it. Hell if no one touched what wasn't theirs then it would still be there for the owner to find.
 
+1 for OP: On the flip side....

Our next door neighbor in Arizona went camping in the woods for his usual 2 weeks in the high country every summer. While walking around one year, he found a little .22 rifle "up against a tree". He said he picked it up to keep it out of the hands of any kids there, then he brought it home. Flash forward 10 years: He hasn't used it, sells it, new owner has the serial number checked (yep you see it coming), guess what comes back stolen, and thought to have been used in a robbery/assault about a month before he found it.

An honest guy in all my dealings with him, he indicated the subsequent knock on the door and trip to the police station was very unpleasant, and he wouldn't be doing that again.

Civic duty, that's admirable. Not wondering why someone left it, or what the downside might be, thats self preservation.
 
I would have done as you did. I can not control the actions of others, I can only account for my own.

If the LEO's are corrupt, That is behavior they have to account for. Not me.
I always do the right thing. Karma's a bad mistress if you owe.
 
Generally, I say you did fine.

Personally, I would have left it where it was and had police come and collect it.

In So. AZ, a weapon abandoned like that would probably be tied to drug smuggling and the rip crews that prey on the drug smugglers.

The rip crews are not shy about shooting the mules, so I figure the chances are even that it was, indeed, used in a crime. This applies for guns around and south-ish of Tucson.

For the non-believers, I've personally examined several such guns, found stashed under bushes in the desert.
 
Your in Nogalas, I am close by in Sierra Vista. Around here you could be finding a Fast n the Furious gun for all you know.
 
Out in that area I wouldn't have touched it. Period.
If I dont touch it I dont have anything to do with it, and I wont have smudged off a fingerprint or something else useful.

I would have called in its exact gps location from a phone booth so that they can go pick it up, and thats where I get off the weird-gun-found-in-the-desert bus...

If I found it near my local range, of course I'd haul it in assuming it was an accidently lost/dropped gun using the same logic as the OP.

Any chance it was a fully auto AK?
 
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Substitute the item found......instead of gun let's call it a bag of money or a ring. If the item has no paper trail to the owner, why does the finder have claim to the money or ring if no one comes forward....but the department has claim to the gun?
 
why does the finder have claim to the money or ring if no one comes forward....but the department has claim to the gun?
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I dont know, why cant we just keep found guns? Is there any law against it?
Aside from the obvious risk of latching onto a peice of evidence...?

Seems the cops should give it to the finder if no one claims it, and if the finder wants it in the first place.

LE sure cant be caught actioning them off like its a drug-bust Camero.
About the time someone uses a police auction 9mm in a crime it'll really hit the fan.

But I sure dont see any logic behind keeping it from the finder after its clean and unclaimed. :confused:
 
Sure it is if its not claimed by someone.
Why would it be any different than anything else found?

Its not like finding a pipebomb and wanting to keep it.

Its a gun, like a ring, or a watch or anyting else of value found it should go to its finder if its unclaimed and free of known crime.
 
Dashunde said:
Sure it is if its not claimed by someone.
Why would it be any different than anything else found?...
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No, it never becomes your property unless there's some law that says if it's unclaimed after following certain specified procedures you acquire a valid claim to it.

Actually, I'm dismayed at the number of folks who apparently want to rationalize taking ownership of something they didn't earn, work for, pay for or receive as an intended gift. It's a sort of viewpoint that really doesn't do humans proud.
 
What? I asked above if there was a law against keep a found firearm? Anyone know?

So you'd just walk right past a $20 bill laying on the ground?
 
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